Attack on Iran

 

Yes, people, he is a god.

Or maybe not.

UPDATE 05:34 pm:  Word is going around that Khamenei is dead.

And also over 100 students and other innocent people.  And many more to come.  

Can this possibly be real...

The country has been very much destroyed and even obliterated.  So what are they pinpoint and heavily bombing?  Bombing to bring peace, no less!  

WTAF?

Does that matter?

There goes your cheap gas.

And, how convenient for Israel to smash what's left of Gaza.

At approximately 9:40 a.m. local time in Iran, President Donald Trump launched what he bluntly characterized as a regime change war aimed at eliminating the Iranian leadership, destroying the country’s missile system and naval forces, and calling on Iranians to rise up and seize control in the aftermath of the attacks.
  Dropsite News

Just fucking brilliant!

In what has now become a signature component of Trump’s approach to Iran, the U.S. constructed a false veneer of continuing diplomatic negotiations, only to turn around and launch a major attack.

Despicable.

Technical negotiations on the nuclear file were scheduled for Monday in Vienna, and the Omani foreign minister—who had been mediating the talks—had just concluded a visit to the U.S. where he met with Vice President JD Vance and proclaimed that a diplomatic agreement was within reach.

America is an uncontrollable monster on the planet. Or at least uncontrolled.

It was the precise tactic Trump employed last June when the U.S. and Israel initiated a 12-day bombing campaign targeting Iranian nuclear facilities and killing more than 1,000 Iranians in the process.

So, I guess, as the saying goes, "fool me twice, shame on me." Let's hope that's the last time any country buys Trump's shit.

“Once again, diplomacy has been reduced to an instrument of deception, and international law has been openly disregarded by the United States. The assassination or elimination of Iranian political and military officials will have no impact on the continuity and authority of the Iranian system,” a senior Iranian official told Drop Site on the condition of anonymity because he was not officially authorized to speak. “We had anticipated that unlawful and aggressive attacks by the United States and Israel were far more probable than the acceptance of a fair and effective agreement. For this very reason, the military and political posture of the country had been carefully planned and structured for precisely such circumstances.”

[...]

[Trump] called on members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) to lay down their weapons and surrender. “ I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity, or in the alternative, face certain death,” Trump said. “You will be treated fairly with total immunity, or you will face certain death.”

And they can, you know, trust him.

In contrast with previous attacks by the U.S. and Israel, within hours of bombs hitting cities across Iran, Tehran unleashed a series of ballistic missile and drone strikes aimed at Israel and U.S. military facilities across the Persian Gulf, as well as in Jordan. Iran targeted U.S. assets in Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq.

I guess that's their answer.

UPDATE 06:28 pm:

Pathetic.

So much for Mark Carney being the voice of reason.

Also pathetic.

UPDATE 03/01/2026:

Left Behind

 

Trump at Davos, 2026 version

Apparently, Trump was completely bonkers, dismissive of Scandinavian countries, and insulting of our allies. And they noticed.

CanadianPrime Minister Mark Carney didn't mince words.

Today I will talk about a rupture in the world order, the end of a pleasant fiction and the beginning of a harsh reality, where geopolitics, where the large, main power, geopolitics, is submitted to no limits, no constraints.

On the other hand, I would like to tell you that the other countries, especially intermediate powers like Canada, are not powerless. They have the capacity to build a new order that encompasses our values, such as respect for human rights, sustainable development, solidarity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the various states.

[...]

Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.

[...]

It seems that every day we're reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry, that the rules based order is fading, that the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must.

And this aphorism of Thucydides is presented as inevitable, as the natural logic of international relations reasserting itself.

And faced with this logic, there is a strong tendency for countries to go along to get along, to accommodate, to avoid trouble, to hope that compliance will buy safety.

Well, it won't.

So, what are our options?

  World Economic Forum

Continue reading. 

He talks about the fiction of the system we have been living in for decades. It's very good.

He also lays out what Canada has been doing in light of the rupture created by Trump:

We have agreed a comprehensive strategic partnership with the EU, including joining SAFE, the European defence procurement arrangements. We have signed 12 other trade and security deals on four continents in six months. The past few days, we've concluded new strategic partnerships with China and Qatar. We're negotiating free trade pacts with India, ASEAN, Thailand, Philippines and Mercosur.

We're doing something else. To help solve global problems, we're pursuing variable geometry, in other words, different coalitions for different issues based on common values and interests. So, on Ukraine, we're a core member of the Coalition of the Willing and one of the largest per capita contributors to its defence and security.

On Arctic sovereignty, we stand firmly with Greenland and Denmark, and fully support their unique right to determine Greenland's future.

Our commitment to NATO's Article 5 is unwavering, so we're working with our NATO allies, including the Nordic Baltic Gate, to further secure the alliance's northern and western flanks, including through Canada's unprecedented investments in over-the-horizon radar, in submarines, in aircraft and boots on the ground, boots on the ice.

[...]

On plurilateral trade, we're championing efforts to build a bridge between the Trans Pacific Partnership and the European Union, which would create a new trading bloc of 1.5 billion people. On critical minerals, we're forming buyers’ clubs anchored in the G7 so the world can diversify away from concentrated supply. And on AI, we're cooperating with like-minded democracies to ensure that we won't ultimately be forced to choose between hegemons and hyper-scalers.

This is not naive multilateralism, nor is it relying on their institutions. It's building coalitions that work – issues by issue, with partners who share enough common ground to act together.

[...]

This is not sovereignty. It's the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination. In a world of great power rivalry, the countries in between have a choice – compete with each other for favour, or to combine to create a third path with impact.

[...]

We know the old order is not coming back. We shouldn't mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy, but we believe that from the fracture, we can build something bigger, better, stronger, more just. This is the task of the middle powers, the countries that have the most to lose from a world of fortresses and most to gain from genuine cooperation.

The powerful have their power.

But we have something too – the capacity to stop pretending, to name reality, to build our strength at home and to act together.

That is Canada's path. We choose it openly and confidently, and it is a path wide open to any country willing to take it with us.

The world is experiencing a shift away from rules and international law, French President Emmanuel Macron told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday.

"It's ... a shift towards a world without rules, where international law is trampled underfoot and where the only law that seems to matter is that of the strongest," Macron said, adding that what he called "imperial ambitions" were resurfacing.

  Reuters

And, what was Trump saying?

[...]

In the midst of an active campaign to burn down the Western world order by forcibly annexing territory from a NATO ally, the rogue president of the rogue United States of America ranted incoherently for some 90 minutes about windmills, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and an apparent daddy fetish.

He confused Greenland with Iceland not once, not twice, but three times.

[...]

The mad, delusional, ranting emperor has no clothes on. And yet there is no truth-telling child in sight. Just a coterie of shameless liars, grifters, and sycophants bent on engaging in a cover-up about the clear mental incompetence of the most powerful man on Earth.

  Zeteo

 

Yes, our president is a piece of shit.

You can only use the same vein so long before you have to give it a rest.

Donald Trump sounded like a fascist dictator suffering from a brain bleed during his speech yesterday at Davos. It was a national embarrassment even by the lowly standards of modern American politics.

[...]

Trump’s screed was chillingly aggressive. He began the Greenland part of it with a thinly veiled threat against NATO, claiming his recent coup in Venezuela proves his regime is a “much greater power than people even understand.” He contrasted his purported strength with European weakness.

“We saw this in World War 2 when Denmark fell to Germany after just six hours of fighting and was totally unable to defend either itself of Greenland,” Trump said to total silence, adding that “without us, right now you'd all be speaking German and a little Japanese.” (German is in fact an official language of Switzerland.)

[...]
Trump then channeled Hitler during the Sudetenland crisis, demanding “immediate negotiations to discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States" — or else.

“We probably won't get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be frankly unstoppable. But I won't do that. Okay?"


  Public Notice

And what did he "get" after making a "deal"? Nothing.

Trump shortly after his speech pulled a TACO, posting on Truth Social about a vague “framework of a future deal” involving NATO and Greenland. But during a subsequent interview with CNBC, Trump was unwilling and/or unable to provide any details, instead characterizing the framework (which sure sounds like the status quo) as “a concept of a deal.”

Alas, NATO Secretary Mark Rutte confirmed later on Fox News that the status of Greenland wasn’t even discussed as part of Trump’s “framework.” The “deal” appears to be about as meaningful as a degree from Trump University.

In the immediate aftermath of Trump’s speech, cable coverage seized upon his “I won’t do that” comment as evidence he’s taken armed aggression against NATO off the table. But of course he also ruled out strikes within Venezuela until shortly before he launched them.

[...]

That Trump backed down hours after his Davos speech is a promising sign that financial markets and diplomatic pressure (not to mention the grassroots organizing that’s taking place in the occupied Twin Cities) can still provide something of a check on his desire to carve up the world between strongmen like himself, Putin, and President Xi. But one year in, he and his regime are getting worse.

[...]

One day after Prime Minster Carney delivered a historic speech at Davos [...] Trump huffed that Carney “wasn’t so grateful” for all America has done for his country and said, “Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, next time you make your statements.”

[...]

He made up that “we have new steel plants being built all over the country,” claimed that “I haven’t been able to find any wind farms in China” (the country in fact operates some of the largest ones in the world), and vowed that there will soon be prosecutions over his 2020 election loss, which he delusionally claimed was “rigged. Everybody now knows that. They found out.”

 He's literally rotten.

UPDATE 02:34 pm:

It's possible.  Old people skin does that.  But what are the excuses for the previous times photographs have shown bruises on his left hand?

UPDATE 01/23/2026:   What it took to bring Kier Starmer around...

 But surely he knows he won't get one.

Canada: Mark Carney elected new PM

Trump endorsed the other guy.  No doubt that was a big factor.  It's nice to see Trump assisting liberalism, even if it's in other countries.

America’s 47th president plays unwitting ally to democracy everywhere except at home.

[...]

Mark Carney, Canada’s 24th prime minister, was too tactful on Monday to actually give the US president credit for his party’s return to office. But it is the Lord’s truth. By coveting Canada’s sovereignty, Trump turned the semi-Trumpian Conservative party’s projected landslide into defeat in the space of weeks. [...] He might do a similar favour for Australia’s incumbent Labor party this weekend without even threatening to annex the country.

But Carney deserves credit for nailing his opponent Pierre Poilievre to the Trumpian mast. Instead of Poilievre’s me-too “Canada First”, Carney proclaimed “Canada Strong”. He did so while also distancing himself from Justin Trudeau, his deeply unpopular predecessor as Liberal prime minister. There are lessons here for Democrats. Had Kamala Harris thrown Joe Biden under the bus with the same dispatch as Carney did to Trudeau, she may have defeated Trump last November.

[...]

It is hard to overstate how improbable this looked a few months ago. Carney worked for Goldman Sachs in London and New York. Then he headed the Bank of Canada. After that he became governor of the Bank of England. Then he joined a global investment firm. [...] If globalism had a name and a face, it would be Carney’s.

Only Trump could have converted these millstones into wings.

  Financial Times

How the great deal maker got played

While Trump was gearing up his trade war machine, [Mark] Carney, Canada’s Prime Minister, wasn’t just sitting in Ottawa twiddling his thumbs. He’d been quietly increasing Canada’s holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds—over $350 billion worth by early 2025, part of the $8.53 trillion foreign countries hold in U.S. debt. On the surface, it looked like a safe play, a hedge against economic chaos. But it wasn’t just defense. It was a loaded gun.

Carney didn’t stop there. He took his case to Europe. Not for photo ops, but for closed-door meetings with the EU’s heavy hitters—Germany, France, the Netherlands. Japan was in the room too, listening closely. The pitch was simple: if Trump went too far with tariffs, Canada wouldn’t just retaliate with duties on American cars or steel. It would start offloading those Treasury bonds. Not a fire sale—nothing so crude. A slow, steady bleed. A signal to the markets that the U.S. dollar’s perch wasn’t so secure.

[...]

The U.S. Treasury market is the backbone of the global economy. Foreign holders like Canada, Japan, and the EU keep it humming, financing everything from America’s military to its tax cuts. Start selling those bonds in unison, even gradually, and the yields spike. The dollar wobbles. Borrowing costs climb. Suddenly, Trump’s “beautiful” bond market—he bragged about it just yesterday—looks like a house of cards in a stiff breeze.

[...]

Foreign countries hold $8.5 trillion of U.S. debt (as of 2025).

[...]

They buy bonds to park money safely and earn steady interest.

The U.S. uses this borrowed cash to fund everything—military, Social Security, tax cuts.

[...]

If countries like Canada, Japan, and the EU start selling bonds together (even slowly):
Flood of Bonds: Too many bonds hit the market at once.
Prices Drop: More supply than demand pushes bond prices down.
Interest Rates Spike: When bond prices fall, yields (interest rates) rise to attract buyers.

[...]

Higher interest rates mean the U.S. pays more to borrow. Debt Snowballs: The U.S. owes $34 trillion already; pricier loans make it harder to manage. [...] Selling bonds means dumping dollars, so the currency’s value drops.

Spending Dries Up [...]
Businesses Tank [...]
Imports Cost More: A weaker dollar makes foreign goods (oil, tech) pricier, jacking up inflation.

Markets Crash[...]

[...]

A slow, coordinated sell-off isn’t a bluff; it’s a quiet gut punch that would take the US YEARS to recover from.

[...]

Canada wasn’t alone. Japan, holding over $1 trillion in U.S. debt, signed on and started to sell those US Treasury bonds which scared Trump shitless. Key EU countries—collectively sitting on another $1.5 trillion—nodded in agreement. This wasn’t a bluff. It was a silent pact. A coordinated move to remind Trump that the free world doesn’t just roll over when he swings his tariff bat.

[...]

Trump’s spent years calling Canada a freeloader—remember his 2019 NATO jabs?—while ignoring the inconvenient truth. Canada’s $350 billion in U.S. debt isn’t charity. It’s a lifeline.

[...]

When Trump announced his tariff “pause,” it wasn’t a victory lap. It was a concession.

[...]

Carney made sure to tell the world that despite Trump kissing our northern ring, we’re not negotiating shit until after the election. He also said we’re still moving away from our relationship with the US for greener, saner pastures.

  Dean Blundell Substack

The bully backs off

 

Not "Governor" Carney?

Thank you for your attention to this matter???

And, when the target capitulates, he attacks further.  You'd think people would have figured this out by now.*

UPDATE 04:30 pm:

*UPDATE 05:23 pm:  Yet another example...

America has fallen

 Canada's Prime Minister, Mark Carney...

UPDATE 03/28/2025:  The bully backs off when the target doesn't back down.

Not "Governor" Carney?

Thank you for your attention to this matter???